Tymoshenko government ousted

The Ukrainian parliament ousted the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.

The resolution, coming weeks after Tymoshenko lost in her bid for the presidency to Viktor Yanukovych, passed with 243 votes in the 450-seat chamber.

The country's political factions now have 30 days to form a coalition and 60 days to form a new government before the pro-Kremlin Yanukovych has the right to call a new parliamentary election.

If no new coalition is formed, Yanukovych will be able to disband parliament and call early elections.

Before the vote, the pro-Western Tymoshenko said that as an opposition leader, she would hold Yanukovych and his team to account for every decision they make.

"We will protect Ukraine from this new calamity that has befallen her," she said.

Yanukovych won a hotly contested election over Tymoshenko in January and was inaugurated last week, but still faces opposition from the prime minister, who has refused to acknowledge defeat in the election. She has claimed the vote was rigged in favour of her opponent.

Ukraine had moved politically away from Russia in 2004 after Yanukovych won an election victory outside observers said was rigged in his favour.

Subsequent protests — dubbed the Orange Revolution — swept Yanukovych from power and put opponents Viktor Yushchenko and Tymoshenko into the roles of president and prime minister.

But the pro-Western reforms faltered and voters became disillusioned with the Orange leaders, particularly Yushchenko, who was eliminated in an early round of this year's election.